India and China to resume direct flights in October after five-year ban

India's IndiGo airline said that it would restart direct flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou from 26 October.

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There have been no direct flights between the two countries since 2020, following deadly troop clashes on their shared Himalayan border.

But over the past year or so, Delhi and Beijing have been working towards re-building ties, including taking steps to de-escalate tensions at the border.

On Thursday, India's biggest budget airline IndiGo said that it would restart direct flights between the cities of Kolkata and Guangzhou from 26 October.

In a statement released on Thursday, India's foreign ministry said that the resumption of flights would "further facilitate people-to-people contact" between the two countries and contribute towards "gradual normalisation of bilateral exchanges".